I had about 45 minutes to kill while Darkstar One is downloading from Gametap (yay, new content) and I’m waiting for Bill Maher to start on HBO, so I fired up Trackmania again.

It’s totally non-realistic racing on (so far) short crazy tracks. There are about 25 tracks to unlock on the first level, about half of which I had unlocked last night. You have to beat to earn medals by beating lap times (bronze, silver and gold), and when you’ve won the gold for a track, you unlock the next track. At least, that’s what it was like through the first 20 tracks.

I won gold on my current unlocked challenge, but the lock icon was still showing on the next track, saying “Click for victory conditions”. I clicked it, and it said I had to design a track using the editor. Oh boy. I’m old enough that I spent quite a bit of time back in the day proving I had absolutely zero skill designing Quake and Half Life levels. Garry’s actually contacted me and said “Leave my mod alone”. I wasn’t thrilled about being forced to design a level to progress in a racing game.

Well, duh, the editor is simple enough for a kid to understand. Pick a section of track. Right-click to rotate, left-click to place. Jumps, speed burst pads, obstacles, all dead-easy to understand and assemble. I had my track in a couple minutes, validated it, then moved on to the next challenge. I won gold on a couple more races, and then encountered another new victory condition. I had to share the game with a friend, emailing them a link to download it and try it out.

Wilhelm, I apologize, you’re the only person who’s got a blog that’s ever indicated interest in racing games, so I mailed you the link. I feel dirty, but my next challenge is unlocked. Maybe I should have offered to buy you dinner first?

The good news is, if more victory conditions appear requiring me to torture my friends, you’re off the hook. The rest of you…watch your email! 🙂